Another early start, didn't really sleep so well as I kept on waking up in the middle of the night. But I was looking forward to another day with the kids. As per usual, I hear them running around outside my room, at 7am I get a knock on the door by Kippolo offering me chiya. Some of the kids did their homework while the others mucked around freely. Phurpu caught a butterfly and it sat on his hand - this was really cool.
The kids love it when its food time. They all rush downstairs and start taking down the chairs from the tables. They grab a plate each and line up one by one and wait for their food to be served. They are such cheerful little kids - it's so nice to be around them. I still haven't tried eating with my hand, I feel a little embarrassed because I don't want to look like an idiot attempting it.
I hung out with the boys this morning, they are always very quick to get ready for school. The girls tend to take a little longer as they take their time combing and plaiting their hair - typical girls. So while we waited, the boys did some filming on my camera pretending to do karate and we also took some photos. Swastika (the girl) gets along the boys really well. She is Little Miss Chatterbox and a very bright girl.
Sometimes the boys takes off first and meet us at Aayuus' childcare centre. There is a playground there so they are always playing on that. After we drop off Aayuus, we all head to school and say our good byes. The boys and the girls always want to hold hands - I find this really cute but the problem is that we each only have two hands. During our walks to school, we meet so many other volunteers along the way. I have noticed that in Pokhara, there are a lot of volunteers helping out at orphanages. Volunteering is a very big thing tourists partake in, in Nepal.
We sent off our postcards today. We stopped by a bookshop, bought some stamps and popped them into a mailbox sitting outside the bookshop. It's really easy and extremely cheap for postage.
We met up with Bea's friends - David and Maureen - both from the UK and volunteering at an orphanage nearby the happy home. We went to a place called 'Perky Beans'. We sat on the rooftop admiring the gorgeous lake and mountain view. Perky Beans is known for the monster mugs (450ml) for whatever drink you order. I've been told the iced lemonade (freshly squeezed) is great here so I ordered that to try it - it was more than delicious and perfect for the slightly warm weather. A little while later, we decided to have lunch before picking up the kids, I order a tuna and cheese wrap and devoured it within minutes. It was so good. We sat talking and finding out more about each other and about our travels. It is so interesting meeting so many different travellers who are doing very similar things to you. Everyone is so open minded and friendly - this is exactly what I enjoy about travelling.
We picked up the first group of kids, sometimes their school friends joins us as well. Swastika is holding my hand today - that's her and I in the shadow.
The kids proceeded to do their homework. Kiran and Phurpu likes to join the others at the balcony to do their homework. The older kids such as Jeeban (pronounced Jeevan), Nabin, Santosh and Sanker do theirs downstairs in their rooms. We check their homeworks one by one and correct as necessary. Once they have finished their homework, they have free time to play.
For a mini snack, Kippolo cooked Bea and I some noodles served with our usual - chiya. Nepali noodles all have a curry flavour to it - it was delicious. So I decided to reward the kids today, for all those who have finished their homework will go to the local park. I have never been to the park, so they will be leading the way. It was fairly a large group, so I ordered them to form a single line - they were very obedient which made it easy for me. The park is less than 3 minutes walk from the happy home.
We arrived at Basundhara Park - a beautiful park that overlooks the gorgeous Phewa Lake. It is a very large park and you see many kids playing football (soccer), volleyball and purely running around in the children area. We went directly to the children's area where they had swings, a seesaw and slide play set. As we were arriving, the sun was just setting - I was mesmerised by the gorgeous view of the Mount Fishtail I had right in front of me. I have never seen such gorgeous mountains in my whole life. Being here in this park certainly calms your soul with the pleasant breezes of the water flowing near it and the happy smiles you see running around you. The girls ran straight to the seesaw and swings and the boys played football. They absolutely love football and they are extremely active. I recorded a few of their games and they really enjoyed watching the playbacks.
Dinner time. The kids lined up and waited for their food to be served. Always so happy day in, day out. This happy home have such a nice vibe. I have been extremely happy being around these kids. Seeing them smiling everyday really puts a smile on my face as well.
TV time is one of their favourite pass time especially after dinner, because this is when they have power to watch it. They watch several different shows, most being in Hindi - although they don't understand Hindi, they still enjoy watching the pictures. Hattori is a japanese cartoon for kids - this is one of their favourite shows. When the TV is on, it takes them a while to respond to their name when being called. They are really captivated by the TV. But what kids aren't right?
The girls joined me in my room. We looked at some photos on my laptop. Girls being girls, they were really curious about my makeup. They all wanted eyeliner which I applied for most of them. Jyoti attempted to apply it for Kritika - surprisingly, she did an excellent job. The girls stumbled across my tampons and asked me what they were, I had to explain to Jyoti what it was so that she can explain it to the little ones. All of the girls thought it was food. They have never seen anything like that before nor do they sell tampons in Nepal. Kids are always so inquisitive. It was finally bedtime for the kids, we said good night and gave each other hugs and kisses. It has been quite an active day and it was a great one as well. It was so nice sitting in the park, watching the kids run around - just the simple things in life can make them super content with their lives. These kids don't need much at all. They love the company of volunteers and they really appreciate our presence - this is exactly what I love about these kids, I am already starting to get attached to them. I know for sure, I will have troubles saying good bye when I have to after my month stay. It's going to be hard, but I am going to make the most of it during my time in Nepal.
Good night world.
XOXO
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